Enlarge / Vice President Mike Pence speaks at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday.

NASA

If President Donald Trump has had one consistent message about space exploration both during his campaign and presidency, it's that America is doing badly in space. About a year ago during a campaign stop in Daytona Beach, Florida, Trump said, "Look what's happened with our whole history of space and leadership. Look what's going on, folks. We're like a third-world nation."

As Vice President Mike Pence has assumed duties over space policy, he has made a respectable effort to tour NASA and Air Force facilities around the country. But during these visits, he's also reiterated this Debbie Downer message. When he delivered a speech Thursday at Kennedy Space Center, Pence saidthat under the Trump administration, America will lead in space "once again" no less than eighttimes.

The subtext here is that America has fallen far behind in spaceand that it needs strong leadership to get back on its feet. While there are definitely significant problems with US space policystarting with the lack of a clear direction for human spaceflight and the funding to support those goalsno other nation can come close to the United States in space. Moreover, because of the long lead times baked into aerospace development, almost every "accomplishment" that demonstrates American leadership in space during the next 3.5 years will have startedlong before President Trump took office.

That said, here's a rundown of how America already leads in space.

With the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, the most powerful rocket in the world is now the Delta IV Heavy, manufactured and flown by the Colorado-based United Launch Alliance. It can heft 28.8 tons to low Earth orbit. Almost everything about the rocket, from its payload fairing to engines, is American made. Since its first flight in 2003, the Delta IV Heavy has flown nine successful missions without a hitch. The world's next most powerful booster is China's Long March 5 rocket, with a capacity of 25 tons to low Earth orbit. It has flown just twice: once successfully and once with a catastrophic failure.

Soon, probably by the end of this year, California-based SpaceX will debut its Falcon Heavy rocket. According to the company, this rocket will have a lift capacity of up to 63.8 tons to low Earth orbit. By around 2019 or 2020, NASA should fly its Space Launch System rocket, with 70 tons of capacity. Around the same time, Washington-based Blue Origin intends to debut the New Glenn rocket with a lift capacity of 45 tons. No other rocket under development in another country will have close to this lift capacity.

NASA has successfully landed eight of nine missions sent to the surface of Mars, culminating with the 1-ton Curiosity lander in 2012. Only its Mars Polar Lander failed to safely reach the surfacein 1999. Two more landers will be launched by the end of the decade, and SpaceX may send one or two private, uncrewed missions to Mars as well.

No other country can remotely boast about such a record. Four of five Soviet Union landers failed to reachMars safely, and the one that did, Mars 3 in 1971, survived for only about 15 seconds. In addition, there have been a number of failed Soviet and Russian attempts to reach the Martian moon Phobos. Europe also tried to land a spacecraft on Mars twice, and both were lost during the process.

NASA has explored the outer Solar System with Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, the Galileo and now Juno missions to the Jupiter system, Cassini to Saturn, and New Horizons to Pluto and beyond. It's amazing to contemplate the fact thateverysingle probeNASA has sent into the outer Solar System has been a success. In this, NASA has a perfect record with missionsno other space agency has even sought to attempt. The US also has numerous other missions en route to their targets, or under development, including more asteroid probes and a lander for Jupiter's intriguing moon Europa.

By contrast, Russia hasnot had a successful interplanetary mission in more than three decades, since 1984s launch of Vega 2, a probe to Venus and Halleys Comet. The Soviet Union and Russia, moreover, have never flown beyond Mars.

The European Space Agency has participated in two NASA missions that have gone beyond the asteroid belt. The first, Ulysses, made two distant flybys of Jupiter during a mission that focused primarily on observing the Sun. NASA managed development of the second mission, Cassini, which has had a spectacular run of observing the Saturn system overthe last decade. As part of that mission, the European Space Agency's Titan lander was mostly successful.

Thanks to commercial investment, as well as support from NASA for SpaceX through commercial crew and cargo contracts, the United States has a definitive lead in what is probably the most exciting new technology in spaceflightvertical takeoff and vertical landing of rocket boosters. The promise of these reusable launch systems is low cost, high frequency access to space, and the opening of the frontier for commercialization, national security, and perhaps settlement.

An Air Force University study recently found that the United States has a definitive lead in these technologies thanks to SpaceX and Blue Origin, but the study warnedthat countries such as China could copy these ideas and surpass the United States if strategic government investments are not made.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, alone, is putting about $1 billion of his own money into his rocket company, Blue Origin. In 2015, Google invested $900 million in SpaceX. Factoring in venture capital, we can conservatively estimate that private investors arenow putting about $2 billion a year into the US space industry. Compare that to Russia's annual budget for all space activities, including the maintenance of decades-old rockets, which is about $2 billion per year.

This is the "secret sauce" of US success in space: billions of dollars flowing to new, innovative ideas for spaceflight and activities in space.Other countries have nationalized space programs, with large bureaucracies. America has that, too, with NASA (which is funded to a far greater degree than any other government program). But it also has unfettered capital chasing dreams like asteroid mining.

NASA has nurtured this process, too. It has opened up its segment of the International Space Station for research and as a platform to launch cubesats. It has helped Bigelow Aerospace test a new inflatable space habitat. NASA has supported companies like Made in Space to experiment with in-space manufacturing. Finally, through its commercial cargo and crew programs, NASA has enabled private companies like SpaceX, Orbital ATK, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada to develop a new, modern fleet of spacecraft.

NASA gets a bad name for the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, and indeed it has been painful to rely on Russia for a ride to the International Space Station since then. However, this doesn't mean NASA has abdicated the lead in spaceflight. Within two years, the United States should have not one but two human-rated spacecraftSpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's Starliner. This will be thanks to a program originally conceived by the George W. Bush Administration and aggressively pursued by President Obama in the face of opposition from some congressional Republicans. Additionally, adeep space capsule, Orion, may be ready for humans by 2023.

Despiteall of its "America will lead in space once again" talk, the Trump administration has the potential to do some good with its revitalized National Space Council. When he wasn't saying America was behind in space, Pence on Thursday noted many of the accomplishments of the US commercial space industry.

If the new administration standardizes and simplifies regulations for these companies, allows NASA and the US military to make prudent investments, sets achievable goals for human spaceflight, embraces international partners rather than excludes them with an "America first" attitude, and continues to support planetary exploration without gutting Earth science, America's already considerable lead in space exploration can become insurmountable.

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Sorry Veep, America already leads the world in space by a large margin - Ars Technica

Vice President Mike Pence has a deep-seated love for space, at least by his own account, and in his new role as vice presidenthes like a kid in celestial candy shop. The biggest prize so far has been the National Space Council, which Trump officially relaunched last week with an executive order and which Pence will chair.

"Im honored and frankly enthusiastic about the role @POTUS has asked me to play in renewing our nations commitment to space," Pence tweeted Friday after the announcement.

A National Aeronautics and Space Councilwas first formed under President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958 and existeduntil 1973. The National Space Council was formed in 1989, but ceased operations in 1993.Pence and his colleagues in the resurrected group will review American space policy, develop a strategy and recommendations for national space activities, policies and issues, advise on international space activities and "facilitate the resolution of differences concerning major space and space-related policy matters," according to the executive order that revivedthe National Space Council.

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Exactly a week after Trump formally signed the order, Pence is already beginning to make good on his space-related responsibilities. On Thursday, Pence visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, arriving on Air Force Two at noon.

You know, I caught Space Fever as a little boy in a small town in Southern Indiana, Pence said in his remarks at Johnson Space Center in Houston last month for NASAs announcement of a new astronaut class. Some of the most precious memories of my youth were gathered around the television, watching the black and white images of your predecessors expanding the horizons of human knowledge with American leadership and American courage.

As a member of Congress, I asked to serve on the NASA subcommittee, and had the privilege, along with my wife and children, to attend several shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center, he added.

Pencereturned to Kennedy on Thursdayto address the workforce in the Vehicle Assembly Building and to take a tour tolearn about how it functions as a spaceport for government and commercial clients and to get updates on NASAs progress to send humans past the moon and eventually to Mars.

I have no doubt that my son, who is now a Marine Corps aviator, was inspired as he sat in the grandstands and watched with awe as Americas heroic astronauts hurtled into the heavens, he said in his early June speech. I said at the time, that to see the sights and sounds of a launch at Cape Canaveral was like seeing the Earth giving birth to a piece of the sun and sending it home.

With his hardly-scientific Earth giving birth comment, Pence highlighted the irony of his love for space, considering his track record on science.Back in 2009, Pence had the following exchange on Hardball With Chris Matthews:

Matthews: Okay, you want to educate the American people about science and its relevance today. Do you believe in evolution, sir?

Pence: Do I believe in evolution? I embrace the view that God created the heavens and the Earth, the seas and all thats in them.

Matthews: Right. But do you believe in evolution as the way he did it?

Pence: The means, Chris, that he used to do that, I cant say. But I do believe in that fundamental truth.

He has also said he believes that some day, scientists will come to see that only the theory of intelligent design provides an even remotely rational explanation for the known universe.

As the sciencesite IFLScience put it, this man is Americas vice president, and hes certainly a curious human being. Being a proponent of creationism and someone who until recently didnt think smoking kills people, hes not exactly a fan of sciencewhich is why its so surprising hes been tasked with heading the National Space Council (NSC).

Pences love for space might be authentic, but in many ways his enthusiasm for space exploration is counterintuitive. NASA explains that human space exploration helps to address fundamental questions about our place in the Universe and the history of our solar system. And its research and answers have the potential to makePence as uncomfortable as he seemed when Matthews cornered him about evolution.

Link:

NASA: Mike Pence Loves Space, but Does He Believe in Science? - Newsweek

More than 2 1/2 years after the fatal breakup of Virgin Galactics experimental rocket plane, Richard Branson is poised to revive powered test flights as the billionaire entrepreneur targets his first journey into space by the middle of next year.

Following the completion of a series of glide-only sorties, powered tests are set to take place every three weeks with the aim of extending them into space by November or December, Branson said in an interview. After his own flight, full commercial passenger operations should start by the end of 2018, he said.

QuickTake The New Space Race

Bransons update is the most detailed since the October 2014 crash of Virgin Galactics original SpaceShipTwo, in which co-pilot Michael Alsbury died when the craft was torn apart after he prematurely unlocked a braking mechanism. While the accident in the Mojave Desert came just months before the planned maiden commercial flight, Branson said the appetite for travel to the edge of space remains undimmed, leaving room for a number of competitors.

We will never be able to build enough spaceships, Branson said Wednesday in Hong Kong following the introduction of Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. flights from Melbourne. The demand is enormous.

The Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo at the Farnborough International Air Show in Farnborough, U.K. in 2012.

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Branson was an early leader in the new space race after founding Virgin Galactic in 2004. Since then, rivals like the Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin LLC and Elon Musks Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, have gained momentum by focusing on reusable rockets to cut the cost of space travel.

On Wednesday, SpaceX successfully launched its 10th Falcon 9 rocket of 2017, little more than a week after sending a total of 11 communication satellites using two rockets, whose first-stage boosters were recovered for reuse later. Musks company has contracts with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration valued at about $4.2 billion to transport astronauts and supplies to the Space Station.

Blue Origins New Shepard rocket has flown to suborbital space five times since November 2015. Suborbital space is high enough for passengers to experience weightlessness, but not high enough to orbit the Earth.

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Branson, who turns 67 on July 18, said theres a role for various launch systems, especially in the deployment of satellites, viewed as a likely mainstay of Virgin Galactics future business. The companys Virgin Orbit arm is working on a two-stage air-launched rocket that would carry small satellites, with test rockets set to be dropped from an aircraft in the first quarter of 2018, the Briton said.

There is definitely the demand for all three, Branson said of the competing ventures. We can take off at 24-hours notice, put a couple of satellites up and come back again. With ground-based rockets, theres quite a long waiting time.Elon has bigger rockets, so he has advantages there.

Branson declined to comment directly on Donald Trumps June 30 announcement that hell revive a Cold War-era council that helped shape space policy, or on theU.S. presidents suggestion that private companies are set to play an important role in the next phase of space technology.

I think myself and Jeff Bezos and Elon are just getting on with it, he said. I dont think Ive heard of anything majorly exciting thats come out of the administration as far as space is concerned, but maybe theyll surprise us.

Virgin Galactic will also play a role in developing elements of Boom Technologiess planned supersonic plane, Branson said, and will build parts of the XB-1 demonstrator on which the U.S. startup plans to commence work before the end of this year, according to

Branson, a vocal opponent of the U.K. leaving the European Union, said hes hopeful the country is now headed for a Brexit kinder to business following the outcome of Mays general election, which left the ruling Conservatives with fewer seats and dependent on the support of a smaller party.

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Branson Aims Mid-2018 Space Trip as Virgin Resumes Powered Tests - Bloomberg

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

The vice president's visit to the Kennedy Space Center Thursday may offer the clearest look yet at how NASA may change under the Trump administration.

Setup is underway for Vice President Mike Pences first Kennedy Space Center visit.

As the head of the newly re-established National Space Council, Pence will be the presidents point man for the space exploration program. Pence could provide a window into where space exploration is headed under the new administration, when he speaks to Kennedy Space Center employees Thursday.

Its a historic venue, one big enough to hold thousands.

Already, major changes are underway for space workers.

The administration has canceled NASAs big, centerpiece mission, a trip to an asteroid.

With a gigantic new rocket under development, NASA now has no official near-term goal.

Under discussion though, is a long ride for astronauts past the moon, possibly to build an outpost or small space station beyond Earths nearest neighbor. Pence could provide some hints as he tours KSC.

Trumps first budget proposes a small cut to NASA and eliminates some of its climate change work.

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Kennedy Space Center prepares for Pence - WESH Orlando

Elon Musk brings new meaning to the word irrepressible.

In early March, the SpaceX founder and CEO stunned the spaceflight community by announcing the first joy ride into space. In 2018 he plans to launch one of his rockets to transport not astronauts, but two wealthy private citizens around the moon. The pair have already put down a significant deposit for the 300,000 mile trip that will take a week. This will be the first private company to take civilians beyond lower Earth orbit.

When Musk dreamed up the idea for his commercial space exploration company 15 years ago his core principle was to recycle reusable rockets, a strategy that would dramatically reduce the cost of space travel and make it more available for commercial audiences.

Musks dream turned into reality with a launch of a flight-proven rocket in late March. He did it again on June 23 with the blast off of a two-stage, 23-story tall Falcon 9 rocket from Complex 39a at NASAs Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. The booster rocket transported an 8,000 pound satellite to orbit where it will provide will provide television and data-communications services to Bulgaria, the Balkans and other parts of Europe.

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About eight minutes later the first stage rocket touched down intact with fold out legs on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You stationed 200 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral. SpaceX now has 12 booster landings under its belt. The Falcon 9 rocket bolstered Musks mission to slash the cost of spaceflight through the use of reusable rockets and hardware. The 45-year old billionaire believes SpaceX can revolutionize travel in the solar system and take humans to establish a city on Mars.

If youre traveling to Florida this summer, consider a side trip to Cape Canaveral on the central coast. SpaceX is expected to launch five more rockets during July and August, while United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is due to launch another two.

Watching a rocket launch from a few miles away provides a unique perspective on the technology and power required to send spacecraft into Earths orbit. There is nothing quite like it. With more launches happening now than ever before, now is the time to witness the wondrous show.

The closest public launch viewing is from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Special launch viewing areas are made available to visitors. Get there early. Traffic can be hectic on launch days. Arrive when the gates open if youre planning to see a morning launch. Give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination and expect long lines at the gate and in parking areas. For details on purchasing tickets check http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com.

There are also prime viewing areas outside of the complex including the shores of the Indian River, the Exploration Tower, the Canaveral National Seashore, the Cocoa Beach Pier or any of the beaches south of Port Canaveral. When planning to visit a rocket launch, its important to remember that dates are rarely finalized until a few weeks to a few months before each launch. And planned launches can be scrubbed or delayed due to weather or technical issues, even down to seconds before launch. So its important to make flexible plans and prepare to stay for a few days if youre determined to catch the launch despite delays.

Check Space Flight Now (www.spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule) for up-to-date information, and keep an eye on NASA, SpaceX and ULA Twitter feeds for additional updates. Another good resource is the local newspaper, Florida Today, (www.floridatoday.com) that streams rocket launches starting 30 minutes before the lift off.

Kennedy Space Center is home to the coolest space attractions on the planet. When you enter the gates, head over to the Rocket Garden that features eight authentic rockets from the past, including a Mercury-Atlas rocket similar to the one used to launch John Glenn into space in 1962. Dont miss the guided bus tour. You will experience parts of the space program not otherwise open to the public. You will travel past the massive Vehicle Assembly Building (the worlds largest building) where NASA is currently constructing a rocket that will eventually take astronauts to Mars.

At the $100 million Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit, a giant screen shows an IMAX 3D film on the origin and history of the space shuttle program that went to space and back 33 times. The video is accompanied by a soaring soundtrack. One of the most complicated and sophisticated pieces of equipment ever built, the shuttle was launched like a rocket, flew in orbit like a spacecraft, and landed on a runway like a glider.

When the video is over, the wall behind the front screen opens and you come face-to-face with Atlantis herself. A magical touch. Visitors experience a display as only spacewalking astronauts have seen her before the Atlantis is rotated 43.21 degrees with payload doors open and its robotic arm extended, as if it had just undocked from the International Space Station (ISS).

There are more than 60 interactive exhibits and high-tech simulators that bring to life the complex systems and components behind this incredible feat of engineering. The shuttle fleet was the main method of transporting and building the ISS and other space wonders including the legendary Hubble Telescope. Interactive kiosks explain each section of the spacecraft. Kids and adults alike rush to climb into replicas of the pilots seat where youre at the yoke ready to land Atlantis.

Virtually within the shadow of the historic rocket towers, prehistoric sea turtles carry out their renewal-of-life rituals. The surrounding beaches are the birthing place for hundreds of loggerhead, green and leatherback turtles that lumber ashore during the night, dig nests with their flippers and deposit 60 to 100, ping-pong ball size eggs that hatch in the late summer and early fall.

Established in 1962 and operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge provides a protected habitat for migratory birds and endangered and threatened species. Home to more than a dozen pairs of bald eagles, they perch atop high towers, trees or utility poles and build nests more than six feet in diameter. There are more than 15 varieties of endangered wildlife near the Kennedy Space Center, including West Indian manatees that swim in the surrounding waterways.

Also near the space center is Canaveral National Seashore, created by Congress in 1975. With 24 miles of beach, it has the longest section of undeveloped beach along Floridas eastern coastline home to 1,045 species of plants and 310 species of birds. Endangered species include sea turtle, manatee, Southern bald eagle, wood stork, peregrine falcon, eastern indigo snake, and Florida scrub jay. With beaches from south of New Smyrna Beach to Titusville, Canaveral National Seashoreis one of the last of the Florida wildernesses.

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Travel: Cape Canaveral offers strange mix of space exploration and natural beauty - The Delaware County Daily Times

The Trump Administration officially reconstituted the National Space Council, an advisory group that once provided the White House with guidance on space policy, through an executive order announced at a public ceremony on Friday, June 30.

Attendees at the ceremony included Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) executive director Sandy Magnus, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA) Tory Bruno, Vice President Mike Pence, various members of Congress, and representatives of other commercial spaceflight companies.

In earlier statements, President Donald Trump said Pence would lead the council, which was disbanded after President George H.W. Bush left office in 1993.

Todays announcement sends a clear signal to the world that we are restoring Americas proud legacy of leadership in space, Trump said during the ten-minute ceremony, which was not televised.

The National Space Council will be a central hub guiding space policy within the administration. And I will draw on it for advice and information and recommendations for action, the president noted.

According to the executive order, the National Space Council will include several cabinet members, NASA representatives, and leaders of the commercial spaceflight industry.

A Users Advisory Group will assure that the interests of non-government entities involved in spaceflight, including commercial spaceflight companies, are represented on the Council.

Among the Councils responsibilities will be reviewing space policy, fostering cooperation and technology sharing among private and public entities in space-related activities, and making recommendations to the president.

Lightfoot described the re-establishment of the Council as a testament to the importance of space exploration to our economy, our nation, and the planet as a whole.

Mary Lynne Dittmar, president and CEO of the Coalition for Space Exploration, commended the action as a sign of renewed commitment to NASAs deep space exploration program.

No details were provided on how the Council will conduct day-to-day operations. Individual members will be appointed in the near future.

Laurel Kornfeld is a freelance writer and amateur astronomer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science. She studied journalism at Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned a Graduate Certificate of Science in astronomy from Swinburne Universitys Astronomy Online program.

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White House reconstitutes National Space Council - The Space Reporter

For most of its history, NASA has used three types of power generation technologies to provide energy to its spacecraft. These technologies include solar panels, RTGs, which use the decay of plutonium fuel to provide heat to generate electricity, and hydrogen fuel cells, which convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity and water using a catalyst. Now, according to NBC, the space agency is looking at nuclear fission to provide power for future spacecraft and surface bases on the moon and Mars.

Back in the 1960s, when the money was flowing thanks to the Apollo program, NASA delved heavily into space nuclear power.

The first and only #Nuclear Power Plant the space agency launched into space was called "SNAP-10A", which generated half a kilowatt of electricity for a month and a half in 1965 before succumbing to equipment failure. NASA also contemplated much larger nuclear plants that would power rockets that would send men to Mars. However, nuclear power in space went by the wayside when the post-Apollo drawdown occurred in the 1970s.

If NASA is going to operate on the moon or Mars, it is going to need sources of power that are not going to be dependent on the sun, like solar panels, or the decay of plutonium, which diminishes power generation over time, like RTGs. The space agency has started a new program called "Kilopower," which envisions small-scale nuclear fission plants to power lunar bases or Mars habitats.

These mini-generators will produce about 10 kilowatts of electricity each, far less than the hundreds of megawatts that a typical Earth-based nuclear power plant produces. The idea is that as many of these mini-plants will be hooked up to a lunar base as needed to provide power for heat, lighting, and other needs.

Like conventional nuclear power plants, these mini-generators work by splitting the fissionable material to generate heat which turns engines that create electricity. NASA estimates that a Mars expedition will need 40 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power eight suburban houses to operate. The generators can be launched cold and will only create radiation once they are hooked up and switched on.

A prototype of Kilopower that can generate a kilowatt of electricity is due to be tested in 2018. If the test is successful, the next step would probably be a full-scale generator attached to a probe, say to the inside of the permanently dark Shackleton crater on the moon. #Deep Space Exploration

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NASA developing mini-nuclear power plants for deep space exploration - Blasting News

From ignoring Pride Month to hating on the First Amendment to refusing to host the White House Eid dinner, Donald Trump is no stranger to ruining anything and everything decent in America. This time around, the target hes chosen isspace travel. At the signing for an executive order that reinstates the National Space Council, Trumps remarks were strange and small-minded, re-framing space exploration as a matter of Mike Pences personal interests, space security, and a popularity contest to see wholl be chosen for the advisory board everybody wants to be on.

(Buzz Aldrin, in the above video, is all of us.)

Space travel is supposed to be about a better understanding of the universe; pushing the bounds of our collaborative, collective ingenuity; and, well, taking really cool photos of really far-away places. Instead, the U.S. got this.

Trump explained that he is reviving the National Space Council because Mike [Pence] is very much into space. Trump himself, though, also Feel[s] very strongly about it. Ive felt strongly about it for a long time. I used to say before doing what I did I used to say, what happened? Why arent we moving forward?

The National Space Council was originally founded by President John F. Kennedy, with his Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson as the council chair. It also played a significant role in the Reagan and Bush administrations, before the Clinton administration decided to do away with it. You can read more about its history at Ars Technica.

In reviving the Council, Trump tried to play up his trademark nonsense-hyperbole about leadership and renewal.The future of American space leadership were going to lead again, he said. Its been a long time. Its over 25 years, and were opening up, and we are going to be leading again like weve never led before.

Were a nation of pioneers, and the next great American frontier is space, he continued. And we never completed we started, but we never completed. We stopped. But now we start again. And we have tremendous spirit, and were going to have tremendous spirit from the private sector maybe in particular from the private sector.

Trump also couldnt resist turning the initiative into a reality-show competition and popularity contest. Speaking to the composition of the Councils users advisory board, he said, And the Vice President, myself, and a few others are going to pick some private people to be on the board. I will say thats not easy, because everybody wants to be on this board. People that you wouldnt have believed loved what were doing so much they want to some of the most successful people in the world want to be on this board.

At other points during his speech, Trump just couldnt stop himself from transforming a normal, presidential statement into foolery.Our travels beyond the Earth propel scientific discoveries that improve our lives in countless ways here, right here, at home, he said, like a human adult, powering vast new industry, spurring incredible new technology, and providing the space security we need to protect the American people. The what? And security is going to be a very big factor with respect to space and space exploration. At some point in the future, were going to look back and say how did we do it without space?

After the order was signed, Buzz Aldrin attempted to make a little Toy Story joke.Infinity and beyond, he said, to laughter from the group.

Trump responded: This is infinity here. It could be infinity. We dont really dont know. But it could be. It has to be something but it could be infinity, right? Okay.

Readers, this is hardly the most outrageous thing Trump has done, but Im just so profoundly embarrassed at this point. How do you make space travel feel this petty and uninspiring?

(Via The White House; featured image via screengrab)

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With Space Security Remarks, Trump Even Finds a Way to Ruin Space Exploration - The Mary Sue

T T heres a saying among space exploration enthusiasts that human missions to Mars have always been 20 years ahead of available technology. Weve never quite had the significant research investment and development needed for propulsion, life support, and the ability to land large payloads to name just a few critical elements in order to establish human settlements on Mars.

But according to several experts who testified before Congress this week, we may be on the cusp of advances that could radically alter how we fly through space, with breakthroughs that could allow faster travel, larger payloads, and greater efficiency in propulsion.Space industry leaders discussed recent advances in in-space propulsion that were brought about, in part, by the all-but-canceled Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), which may surprise some of the programs critics.

Participants in the hearing, which was held by the Space Subcommittee of the House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology, were part of the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP), a public-private collaborative model that uses commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities to support more extensive human spaceflight missions with NASA.

The development of our in-space propulsion and power technologies are essential for future exploration, Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), the subcommittee chair, told Seeker following the hearing. The work that NASA is doing to adapt its current work on solar electric propulsion to a Deep Space Gateway architecture and further pursuit of high-power in-space propulsion for a Deep Space Transport are key to ensuring that human exploration of Mars is affordable and sustainable. Future development of these technologies will be essential to unlocking the secrets of our solar systems ocean worlds, like Europa.

ARM was originally designed as a Mars precursor mission to develop deep space exploration capabilities. ARM would find, capture, and redirect an asteroid robotically to orbit the moon, and then astronauts would visit it for exploration and study. But the technology involved in realizing the feat would also help prepare for human missions to the Red Planet and other destinations within the solar system. The astronauts would have also tested Mars-capable spacesuits, sample harvesting techniques, and docking capabilities that would be critical for operating independently of Earth during long-duration missions to Mars.

Yet the idea of sending humans to an asteroid never really captured the attention of the public or Congress.The Trump administrations proposed 2018 budget completely cuts funding for ARM.

There is more to ARM than meets the eye. NASA wanted to use the project to make advancements in solar electric propulsion (SEP) sometimes called ion propulsion which works by electrically charging, or ionizing, a gas using power from solar panels and emitting the ionized gas to create thrust to propel the spacecraft. These engines are different than chemical rockets and thrusters that most spacecraft use.

RELATED: Compact Fusion Rockets Could Be the Future of Interplanetary Space Missions

SEP engines are much more efficient than conventional chemical propulsion because they turn electrical energy from solar panels into thrust, meaning they dont have to carry large amounts of heavy, chemical propellant.

High power solar electric propulsion capabilities, scalable to handle power and thrust levels needed for deep space human exploration missions, are considered essential to efficiently and affordably perform human exploration missions to distant destinations such as Mars, Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate at NASA, remarked at the hearing.

The concept of solar electric propulsion has been around for a long time. Robert Goddard discussed it in the early 1900s, but the first spacecraft to use the technology wasDeep Space 1in 1998.A few other robotic solar system missions (ESAs SMART-1, Japans Hayabusa) have used solar electric propulsion, and Boeing recently launched the first commercial Earth orbiting satellites that rely solely on electric propulsion. The Dawn mission to the asteroid belt, which launched in 2007, uses ion propulsion.

The improved SEP design packs three times the power of previous models, is 50 percent more efficient, and uses much less propellant. Although developed for asteroid exploration, the new and improved thruster could one day be used to send large payloads to Mars in support of human settlement.

SEP systems under development now by NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne reduce the amount of propellant needed for deep space missions by a factor of 10, said Joe Cassady, Executive Director for Space, at Aerojet Rocketdyne. This is important because it costs as much to launch propellant as it does to launch scientific instruments or other mission critical equipment. SEP makes it possible to launch larger, heavier payloads thereby reducing the number of launches needed and the taxpayer cost for the total mission.

Theres one downside to SEP engines: They lack sufficient powerful over a short amount of time to lift a spacecraft off of Earths surface. For that, you need the sudden, swift acceleration to overcome the pull of our planets gravity that currently only chemical rockets can provide. To get humans to Mars, the current plan is to use NASAs large new rocket currently under development, the Space Launch System (SLS).

While a SEP-powered spacecraft provides low acceleration, when it operates in space, it can fire continuously for many years to thrust a large mass to high speed.

Compared to chemical propulsion, this approach enhances the efficiency of the thruster by more than an order of magnitude and leads to significant mass reductions a change that allows us to include more payload mass on the same launch vehicle, said Mitchell Walker, chair of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronauticss Electric Propulsion Technical Committee. Thus, electric propulsion systems enable space missions that could never take place with chemical propulsion alone.

RELATED:A City on Mars: Elon Musk Details SpaceXs Plan to Colonize the Red Planet

Franklin Chang-Diaz, CEO of the Ad Astra Rocket Company and a former NASA astronaut, said despite decades of advances in space technology, deep challenges remain.

Our transportation workhorse, the chemical rocket, has reached an exquisite level of refinement, he said. It has also reached its performance limit. That technology will not provide us with a sustainable path to deep space. It does not mean we need to discard it. On the contrary, chemical rockets will continue to provide foundational launch and landing capabilities for the foreseeable future and reducing their cost is a worthy goal.

Chang-Diaz added that the path to sustainable transportation lies in high-power electric propulsion.

By high-power, I mean power levels in the hundreds of kilowatts and up, he said. These rockets will first be solar-electric and later, as we move outwards from the sun, they will transition to nuclear-electric power.

The electric ion engine that currently propels the Dawn mission has a nominal operation power of 2.3 kWh, and the new Boeing satellites operate at slightly less than 5 kWh. Upgraded engines tested for ARM offer electric propulsion devices that could operate at nearly 15 kWh. Aerojet Rocketdynes Nested Hall Thruster delivers 50-200 kWh and the VASMIR VX-200 engine has performed more than 10,000 test firings at power levels of 200 kWh.

But none of these engines have yet flown to space.

Cassady put things in perspective. Today we can land one metric ton on the surface of Mars; for a human mission we need to land 80 metric tons of supplies and equipment, he said. Mars missions will also send humans much farther than ever before. This combination of heavier payloads combined with the need to travel over greater distances drives us to seek a solution that takes advantage of strategic logistics planning.

He added that the best approach might be similar to the way that military deployments are conducted today, where heavy equipment, supplies, and other logistical items are pre-deployed by large cargo ships. Then, once the equipment and habitats are in place, soldiers follow by faster air transport. SEP systems, in other words, could become the cargo ship of deep-space missions.

RELATED:NASAs GPS-Like Deep Space Navigation Experiment Set to Launch on SpaceX Rocket

Gerstenmaier said that NASA is also investing in technologies that will allow for the in-space storage and transfer of cryogenic fuels to meet the needs for future propulsion stages to move crew from Low Earth Orbit to a variety of destinations. A key goal is to demonstrate these new capabilities in the next few years and infuse them into human missions in the next decade, he said.

Several committee members and invited speakers echoed Chang-Diazs opinion that there is strong public sentiment for continued development for space exploration, and in particular a sustainable human mission to Mars.

I believe space travel beckons humanity even more today than it did 50 years ago, said Chang Diaz, but we need to secure a safe, robust, and fast means of transportation.

Cassady agreed, saying he thought that we are well on our way to having efficient in-space transportation because of SEP, but for the technology to fully reach its potential, we mustnt get complacent or distracted.

We must continue to adequately fund these development efforts to ensure we will have the first human footprints on Mars in the 2030s, he said. The primary challenge facing high power SEP development is the risk of losing focus as we go through the critical transition period from development to flight demonstration and subsequently, operational use. This requires a stable budget and a constancy of purpose. Everything we do should be with the goal of landing humans on Mars in the 2030s.

WATCH:What Will Rockets Look Like in the Future?

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The Future of Deep Space Propulsion May Soon Be Radically ... - Seeker

Leading the way in supporting space exploration, Luxembourg is the first European state with a legal framework on the use of space resources and comes only second in the world in doing so, after the United States.

The Chamber of Deputies is soon to vote on the draft law dedicated to the appropriation of space resources, which follows international law and the Outer Space Treaty.

"We want to be first movers and we are now talking to many governments to continue the discussion on a legal framework for space exploration at a UN level," stated Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Etienne Schneider while visiting Luxembourg's Science Centre in Differdange to launch Asteroid Day on June 30.

Credited for supporting the Asteroid Day live streaming to take place from Luxembourg this year, on the day of the event Etienne Schneider also shared his ambitious vision to make Luxembourg one of the biggest world players for the extraction of space resources, attracting private investors and experts.

Deputy Minister and Minister of Economy Etienne Schneider discussed Luxembourg's future as global "space hub" with Particle Physicist Brian Cox, Law Advisor and Professor Jean-Louis Schiltz,Space Law Professor Frans Von Der Dunk, and Kyle Acierno, Managing Director of ispace Europe.

"The potential of space exploration is huge and the question is not if, but rather when we will be able to exploit more space resources," he argued.

Participating in discussions that were live streamed from Luxembourg for Asteroid Day, he went on to say "there is business activity, that's why we put infrastructure in place and want to have a venture capital fund to support start-ups active in this field".

Also attending the event was the Apollo 9 astronaut and co-founder of Association of Space Explorers, Rusty Schweickart, who spoke to Luxemburger Wort.

"Once we will be able to extract resources from asteroids, this will change the whole concept of economy" he said, outlining that asteroids contain water, can be seen as "gas stations" and are made of several metals worth extracting".

Hailed as a "new economy, in a new place" by particle physicist Brian Cox , space resources have been part of the Luxembourg government's focus for a long time. Schweickart goes on to explain that "Luxembourg has been very creative in thinking outside the box in terms of supporting space exploration and mining".

And it seems that Luxembourg's efforts to lead the way and position the Grand Duchy as a global hub have started to pay off.

"We are here today due to Luxembourg's commitment and willingness to support causes such as Asteroid Day," Danica Remy, co-founder of Asteroid Day, said. "We are incredibly grateful for Luxembourg's help to tell the story of asteroids."

Held on June 30 each year to mark Earths largest asteroid impact in recorded history, Asteroid Day is a global movement aimed at raising awareness about asteroids among the general public.

The event also brings together leading figures in space exploration and research and this year saw the participation of American NASA astronauts, Ed Lu and Nicole Stott, Romanian astronaut, Dumitru Prunariu, French planetary scientist, Patrick Michel, as well as Ian Carnelli, General Studies Programme Manager at the European Agency among many others.

"Bringing Asteroid Day in Luxembourg fits with our strategy," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Etienne Schneider explained. "You might see asteroid as a threat, but we see opportunity and huge value for the human kind."

Looking towards the future, he pointed out that "although these initiatives sound like science-fiction today, in 10-15 years, this will no longer be the case.

"We want to create this interesting community of space exploration," Schneider concluded.

(Roxana Mironescu, roxana.mironescu@wort.lu,+325 49 93 748)

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Making Luxembourg a global space hub - Luxemburger Wort - English Edition

It is the first time JAXA has revealed an intention to send Japanese astronauts beyond the International Space Station, and it will mostly likely be part of an international mission, the agency said.

The announcement from Japan Wednesday is just the latest in a series of ambitious space exploration plans by Asian countries, with the increasing competition for space-related power and prestige in the region echoing that of the Cold War space race of the mid-20th century.

For now, Indian manned missions aren't being pursued. India sent a probe to Mars in 2014.

The JAXA proposal was put to a panel at Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which is in charge of the direction of the country's space exploration.

A spokesman for JAXA told CNN the new plan wasn't to send an exclusively Japanese rocket to the Moon, which would be extremely costly, but rather to contribute to a multinational manned lunar probe.

By contributing technology, JAXA would hope to be allotted a space on the mission, which would begin preparation in 2025.

The spokesman told CNN a plan for Japan's future space exploration would be released by the panel in time for Japan's International Space Exploration Forum in March 2018.

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Japan wants to put a man on the moon, accelerating Asian space race - CNN

The Paris Air Show was the setting for the announcement of Europes first innovation competition focused on space exploration. The Space Exploration Masters, launched by AZO on behalf of ESA, is looking for innovative business ideas in space exploration that provide major benefits for the global society and the economy. It is an international competition that aims to identify the best technology transfer business successes, as well as to empower and foster business innovation around space exploration activities in low Earth orbit for the benefit of society and humankind. Entrants can take part up until September 8th 2017 at http://www.space-exploration-masters.com.

There are two prize categories, Technology Transfer Success and New Business Innovation. The Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg hosts the Luxembourg Prize in the category New Business Innovation, alongside several other prizes.

The Luxembourg Prize integrates perfectly into the SpaceResources.lu initiative, as it aims to discover innovative ideas and business cases complementing the Grand Duchys growing portfolio of activities in space resources utilisation. The challenge addresses companies, universities, scientific institutions, start-ups, and individuals willing to set-up a sustainable business and to create economic substance by establishing and registering a company in Luxembourg. The call for submissions covers the full value chain of space resources of prospection, extraction, processing, utilisation, and distribution.

The proposals submitted by the participants will be assessed by an interdisciplinary jury. The proposals should offer a long-term vision for space resources utilisation, but also be able to generate an economic return in the short and medium-term, by using their solution in existing space and terrestrial markets. The winners will be announced at the NewSpace Europe conference hosted by Luxembourg on November 16 and 17, 2017.

The Grand Duchy offers two awards within the frame of the Luxembourg Prize. The first one is designed to support for up to 400.000 euros a study under the Luxembourg national space program that is managed by ESA. The other award is intended for projects that are ready for early-stage funding. This award will offer a crowd investing campaign on http://www.spacestarters.com with a 30.000 euros value of services to prepare the campaign for launch.

The Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy will support both award winners by incubating their companies in one of Luxembourgs incubators. On top of that, one of the two winners will be selected as the official winner of the Luxembourg Prize and will thus be eligible for the Excellence in Space Exploration derived Business Innovation overall prize of the Space Exploration Masters New Ideas for Business Innovation competition category.

Mathias Link from the Ministry of the Economy was present at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget when ESA announced the Space Exploration Masters. He presented the Luxembourg Prize and said: The Space Exploration Masters are yet another great opportunity for our SpaceResources.lu initiative to find new companies with innovative projects. I am convinced that we will receive numerous interesting applications for the Luxembourg Prize and that we will thus foster the further development of Luxembourgs space sector and start-up ecosystem.Original published at: https://spacewatchme.com/2017/06/space-exploration-masters-competition-kicks-off-paris-air-show/

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Space Exploration Masters Competition Kicks Off at Paris Air Show - SpaceWatch Middle East (press release) (subscription) (blog)

In BriefNASA scientists have predicted the pivotal role AI will playin the future of space travel. While we already use rudimentaryforms of AI on our probes, deep space AI will need to be far moresophisticated. AI-LeadMissions

Steve Chien and Kiri Wagstaff of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratoryhave predicted thatin the future, the behavior of space probeswill be governed by AI rather than human prompts from earth.While humanity has made great strides in exploring the galaxies beyond our own, in order to learn even more about our universe, we may need to hand the controls over to robots.

That said, there will be challenges to the hand off, and the difficulties of micromanaging probes in deep space fall into three main categories:

First, probes may fall outside communications range, which means they will have to continue without instruction on their journey. That also means that eventually theyll have towork out when, and how, to return with the data they have collected. A key aspect of this is knowing which data to document, and how to identify it: for example, deciding if weather is due to a storm or is normal for theplanet being observed.

Second, because they will be traveling to areas of space that we know very little about, they will also have to be able to learn in order to adapt to environmental factors, such as unforeseen asteroids, temperatures, or gravities.

Third, because of the time required totravel to those distant parts of the universe, generations of scientists will die before probes return, leaving the probes somewhat to their own devices so to speak.

The benefits of using AI to control space-exploring robots have been demonstratedby missions that are alreadyunderway. Both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which were launched back in 2003, had an AI driving system called Autonav that allowed them to explore the surface of Mars.

In addition, Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) has been used by the NASA Mars rover, Curiosity, since May in order to select which aspects of Mars are particularly interesting and subsequently take photos of them. Chien and Wagstaff said the system has substantially reduced lost time on the mission and markedly increased the pace of data collection.

Therefore, any AI that we use in the future of space exploration will allow us to retrieve data from the places we send probes to, as well as allow us to explore them further, and collect better data. Since humans arent yet able to traverse these locales ourselves, unless were willing tohand at least some of that responsibility over to AI, its unlikely any of thesemissionscouldhappen.

Hiro Ono, another NASA engineer, gives the example of a spacecraft on a Jovian moon Europa, which is covered by a 10km thick Icy Crust: The probe might be trapped in ice if it waits for the instruction of human operators. Without an advanced autonomy, exploration of such a remote world would be severely limited, if not impossible.

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NASA: AI Will Lead the Future of Space Exploration - Futurism

Many turned out to watch Venus pass across the face of the sun, a tiny, black dot moving against a white-hot backdrop. Scholars organized watch parties up and down the East Coast, from Rhode Island to Delaware, ready to learn more about their place in the world. The observations were described in published papers, and they were praised by European observers, who were impressed by a new stage of maturity in the development of America.

The year was 1769, and American space exploration was beginning to take shape.

The pursuit of space exploration has long been as much about geopolitical power as about scientific discovery. The tug-of-war between the Americans and the Russians on their way to orbit in the 1950s and 1960s is perhaps historys best example of that, but its certainly not the first. Politicians, religious figures, and wealthy individuals have held up the study of the cosmos as a signal of great achievement since the colonial period and Americas early years, according to Alex MacDonald, an economist at NASA and the author of The Long Space Age: The Economic Origins of Space Exploration from Colonial America to the Cold War.

In his first address as president in 1825, John Quincy Adams called for the establishment of a national astronomical observatory. And while scarcely a year passes over our heads without bringing some new astronomical discovery to light, which we must fain to receive at second-hand from Europe, are we not cutting ourselves off from the means of returning light for light, while we have neither observatory nor observer upon our half of the globe, and the earth revolves in perpetual darkness to our unsearching eyes?

Dozens of astronomical observatories began popping up across the states in the 1830s and 1840s. The funding largely came not from the government, but from private individuals and communities seeking to signal their ambitions for exploring the heavens. These days, the investments in space exploration by billionaires seems like a departure from a long record dominated by NASA and government funding. In reality, its a revival of 19th-century dynamics.

I spoke with MacDonald about this extended history of space exploration in America and the role of private individuals in making it happen. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Marina Koren: So, I had no idea that John Quincy Adams was so into space exploration.

MacDonald: Yeah, neither did I. John Quincy Adams was this fascinating character. He grew up with his father, the second U.S. president, traveling around the world. He spent time in Leiden, which is a European city famous for scientific research. He seems to have picked up an enthusiasm for science while there, and he took that into his presidency. In his first inaugural address to Congress, he essentially advocated for a federal astronomical observatory. He argued that because Europe had so many astronomical observatories and because the United States at that time did not, [building one] would show the world that America was prepared to contribute to the global scientific endeavor. He explicitly thought of this as a signal of the strength of this new union at the time.

Congress was not particularly pleased with the idea; they never actually supported his proposal when he was president, but he continued to advocate for the idea, and his advocacy ultimately ended up leading to the Smithsonian. John Quincy Adams argued that James Smithsons bequest [of his estate to the nation in 1835] should be used for a permanent endowment that will perpetually fund science in America.

Koren: It was kind of surreal to read John Quincy Adams pitch to Congress, because he literally talks about how the Russians are outpacing the Americans in astronomy. It sound as if, in his mind, there was a space race.

MacDonald: In his mind, there really was. And he looked to the Pulkovo Observatory outside of St. Petersburg. A lot of observatories had been established for the determination of longitude and practical matters, but Pulkovo had really been established in order to have a very large telescope that would hopefully find new discoveries. John Quincy Adams argued that the United States needed to follow this model.

And his advocacy actually inspired others. A guy with a marvelously 19th-century name of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel ended up going to Cincinnatiwhich in the 1840s was the sixth-largest city in Americaand advocated, through a series of public lectures, the need for an astronomical observatory. He argued that because America had no czars like Russia did, that in America the people will have to take up the role of patrons of science. He advocated that Cincinnati should build the largest telescope in the world, which is a pretty ambitious notion. But the people actually responded strongly to this request. They end up importing the third-largest telescope in the world at the time, from Germany. And when they opened the observatory for the first time, John Quincy Adams made the last trek of his life for his last major speech to dedicate the observatory on what was renamed, and today is still called, Mount Adams.

Koren: The Cincinnati Observatory sounded to me like the product of a 19th -century Kickstarter. In exchange for contributing to the project, the public got certain perks, like membership to the citys astronomical society.

MacDonald: Long before we had the Kickstarter, we had the same notion that went by the name public subscription. This type of process was also used for monuments, so whenever you go to monuments, youll often see dozens of peoples names on it. Well, those were the Kickstarter backers of whatever monument that was. The Cincinnati Observatory established a public subscription model for astronomical observatories which was then used in other cities, in Boston, Albany, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. People came together to determine that they wanted their own telescope for the observation of the heavens.

And whats particularly interesting is that it wasnt so much that they were interested in supporting science. Often, they would fund an observatory but they wouldnt fund salaries for astronomers or instruments. What they were really interested in was this process of exploration. This actually led to a number of conflicts in some cities, such as in Albany. There was such conflict that the astronomers barricaded themselves into the observatory until the local constable had to be called out and threw them out. In Cincinnati and Boston, you also had these conflicts where the people who had paid for it essentially wanted to be able to use the telescope themselves, but the scientists wanted to be able to conduct long-term, careful research.

Koren: What was the strangest or most memorable story about this dynamic that you found?

MacDonald: One of the more unexpected stories was the case of the Georgetown Observatory, which was essentially funded by the Jesuit order. There was a Father at Georgetown in the 1840s who convinced one of the young students who was of particularly wealthy means to finance an astronomical observatory. And this information went back to the superior general of the Jesuit order in Rome, who was not very impressed because he worried that this was not exactly the right signal to send[funding] astronomy rather than, for example, supporting the poor. So they would send letters back to Georgetown saying, we dont suggest that you proceed with this project.

But Father James Curley, an Irish Jesuit, through some curious interpretation of the instructionsand utilizing the fact that it took weeks for letters to cross the Atlanticproceeded with the project anyway. He believed it was going to be a strong signal of the Jesuit order in America. What I liked about that story is that both parties were concerned about what signal the astronomical observatory sent. One believed that this would show commitment to education and science, and one worried it would show commitment to science above social means. Thats a particularly illustrative example of how this signaling role of space transcends even nations, and really is a function of human communities.

Koren: So lets zoom back out a bit. Today we hear a lot about space exploration moving more and more from the governments domain and into the private sector. But your main argument is that private citizens actually have a much longer history in space exploration.

MacDonald: We are used to this standard space-age narrative, which starts with Sputnik, the Apollo program, and the space race, when in reality, private support long predated significant programs like Apollo. Thats not to say that there wasnt public support as well. In fact, public support goes back to the origins of the country in a very small way. One of the first public appropriations for funds for science was actually by the Pennsylvania legislature, which appropriated funds in 1769 to support a number of expeditions related to the observation of the transit of Venus. And when the Declaration of Independence was first read out in Philadelphia, it was made from a raised platform that had been built as part of that observation.

But aside from small examples like that, if we look at the full history, from the colonial period to today, the vast majority of the time, it was the funds of individuals, civic societies, and philanthropic organizations, rather than public funding, that provided for astronomical observations and even for early liquid-fuel rocketry efforts. People like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, James Lickthey were funding, in todays terms, billion-dollar projects. Theres a precedence for these modern private-sector examples that we have with Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk that date back long before even the origin of NASA.

Koren: Can you describe the desire for space exploration over this long arc, from colonial times to the space race?

MacDonald: Lets look at signaling, which is this concept used in economics and biology that states that credible information about the characteristics of an individual or group can be transmitted through costly action. We see the emergence of a public interest in space-related signals in the reaction to the work of a scientist named David Rittenhouse, who had designed the most complex orrery, a mechanical model of the solar system. He was held up by Thomas Jefferson as one of the three great Americans, along with Franklin and Washington, and his astronomical achievements were held up as a signal of the nation as whole. And that belief about the role of space exploration as a signal of strength continued all the way to the Cold War, because achievements in this field are hard. They signal something important about the technical and organizational capability of the nation.

Sputnik, which was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, was interpreted by the world as a very strong signal. And its important to remember this was a period of significant asymmetric informationnot a lot of people knew a lot of details about what was actually going on in the Soviet Union, and if youre in the Soviet Union or the rest of the world, not a lot about what was going on in America. All you really have to go on was newspapers or radio communications, both of which could be really easily propagandized. But if you knew one thing about a countrythat the country had sent something into space and the other country had notyou knew something important about their technical capacity.

And so from Apollo on, advances in space have served as a signal of America's technical supremacy. I dont think that is a particularly new idea, but what is often forgotten is that the space race is one example of this signaling motivation that includes the transit of Venus expedition.

Koren: You write that the Apollo program should not be seen as the classic model of American space exploration, but rather as an anomaly. Why is that?

MacDonald: When I think about the Apollo program as being an anomaly, what I mean is that at the time, in the 1960s, geopolitical competition increased the demand for space exploration. Now, we dont have that, and we have much more access to information. The demand for space exploration as a signal is not as strong as it was. So whats happening is were seeing the rise of this other trend, which is the intrinsic motivation of individuals to contribute to space exploration coming back to the fore. And thats very much what Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk represent. So were always going to have, throughout history, moments when the signal value is strong and when its not, and part of the point of trying to draw that long space age narrative out is to show that even without that strong demand for a signal, space exploration continues regardless, because individuals have used billions of dollars of their own funding in the past to make progress in this field.

Koren: Who do you think should be paying for space exploration, or who has does it better over the course of history?

MacDonald: Its not a particular question of who does it better. The private sector in the history of space exploration has as many boondoggles and cost overruns and schedule overruns as the public sector. Its not necessarily about efficiency. Both are always needed. Space is never wholly public or wholly private.

Koren: So whats next?

MacDonald: The long space age can teach us that space agencies might do well to focus on missions that serve as effective signals of national interest and achievement. My personal favorite is thinking about orbital human missions to other planets. Theres always a lot of emphasis on human missions to surfaces, but in terms of the signaling potential, orbiting other worlds is a major step beyond anything weve done and significantly more affordable and achievable than human planetary surface missions.

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The Surprising Space Ambitions in Colonial America - The Atlantic

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Power players of space exploration are relativelyfew and far between, but the list is growing. India and China are making strides to keep up with and even surpass mature programs like those in the U.S. and Russia.

India recentlysent 31 satellitesfrom 15 different countries into orbit. And in early 2017, it sent 104 satellites into orbit at once the most everfor a single rocket. It surpassed the previous record of 37 setby Russia in 2014.

China is set to send an unmanned probe to the moon to bring back thefirst soil samplesin more than 40 years. By 2018, it's expected to be the first country to soft-land a probe on thefar side of the moon.

India and China are also two of six space agencies in the"heavy-lift" rocket club. China joined at theend of 2016, and in June, Indiasuccessfully launchedsatellite into orbit that's several tons and 13 stories tall.

SEE MORE: A NASA Engineer Has A Creative New Way To Find Missing Rockets

And it doesn't look like they're ready to slow down, either. In the next five years, Indiaplans to send25 rockets into space and spend $6 billion on its space program.

Meanwhile, China is set to build its own space station. Constructionwill start in 2019, and it's expected to be done by 2022. That's two years ahead of thepossible retirementof the International Space Station.

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2 Nations Are Vying To Be The New Heavyweights Of Space Exploration - NewsChannel5.com

What if a video game could teach science in a way that didnt put gamers to sleep?

Thats the idea behind a new game called Space Odyssey, which aims to be a virtual universe governed by real scientific laws where players can build planets and solar systems and explore the cosmos. Neil deGrasse Tyson is helping to develop the game and is planned to be the narrator who guides players through space.

Space Odyssey, as Business Insider reports, would feature buildingactivity similar toMinecraft, space colonization akin to that in Civilization: Beyond Earth, elements of exploration like No Mans Sky, and echoes ofElon Musks favoriterocket-building simulator,Kerbal Space Program.

What would set this game apart, however, is its educational bent and insistence on using real-life science to inform the mechanisms of the game. On this point Tyson won't budge.

I have no patience for people who say, I dont want the laws of physics to constrain me, Tyson said at a recent E3 convention.

The game is in early stages of development and at the time of writing has received just more than a third of its $314,159Kickstarter goal.

can-video-games-teach-values

If the game receives full funding (which wouldn't solely come from the Kickstarter) players will be able to develop planets, colonize worlds, nurture species, mine elements, build robots, and discover unique life-forms as you coordinate with others in an intense game of real-time strategy, according to the Kickstarter video.

The first stage of the game would take place onProxima B, which, at 4 light years away, is the closest known exoplanet to our solar system. Players would explore the planet and acclimate themselves to the game with Neil's voice helping them learn the ropes. They would then move to a space station where they'd be able to create, terraform and protect a home planet. Other major activities, missions, and narrative arcs are planned, as well.

Players would also be able to explore systems created by other online players or prominent scientists and fictional world-builders like Tyson, Bill Nye, George R.R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, and Peter Beagle, according to the Kickstarter page.

Space Odyssey co-creator elaborated in an interview with Digital Trends:

Part of the gameplay will allow you to grow a planetary system, Murphy said. Its size and scope is relative to the level of challenge you would like to undertake. You can grow and mature these planets as much as youd like, creating colonies, ports, mining structures, undertake trade of elements you discover/mine or invent or innovate. We are adding strategic partners that will consult with us on design and tech possibilities, including Bigelow Aerospace and the National Space Society to name a couple.

Murphy said Tyson has played a creative and scientific role in the game's development.

Hes helped create challenges in the game, and has challenged our creative team to entertain and inspire, Murphy said. He has also brought forward some incredible collaborators to our efforts, an incredible team of scientists, astronauts and explorers.

Accordingto a fact sheet for the game, Space Odysseyis being designed for PC and will target the Steam market but plans also call for virtual reality missions that will be playable on Oculus Rift or Samsung Gear.

Its a departure from what the core game feels like when you play it, but thats okay. Our goal with the VR missions is to take things to an even more educational level, Murphy said.

It remains to be seen if Space Odyssey can fuse science education into its ships and terraformed planets, and end up with gameplay that's compelling to mainstream gamers.Minecraft,one of the most widely played video games ever, is one of the few games that's bridged the gap of education and playability some teachers even use it to teach lessons in the classroom.

Space Odyssey reportedly borrows some ofMinecraft'sbuilding-blocks applications. Add that to Tyson's narration and preternatural ability to get the masses absolutely hyped for science, and this new game might just have a chance at taking off.

neil-degrasse-tyson-bringing-commercial-space-fantasies-back-to-earth

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Neil deGrasse Tyson is Developing a Space Exploration Video Game - Big Think

Power players of space exploration are relativelyfew and far between, but the list is growing. India and China are making strides to keep up with and even surpass mature programs like those in the U.S. and Russia.

India recentlysent 31 satellitesfrom 15 different countries into orbit. And in early 2017, it sent 104 satellites into orbit at once the most everfor a single rocket. It surpassed the previous record of 37 setby Russia in 2014.

China is set to send an unmanned probe to the moon to bring back thefirst soil samplesin more than 40 years. By 2018, it's expected to be the first country to soft-land a probe on thefar side of the moon.

India and China are also two of six space agencies in the"heavy-lift" rocket club. China joined at theend of 2016, and in June, Indiasuccessfully launchedsatellite into orbit that's several tons and 13 stories tall.

SEE MORE: A NASA Engineer Has A Creative New Way To Find Missing Rockets

And it doesn't look like they're ready to slow down, either. In the next five years, Indiaplans to send25 rockets into space and spend $6 billion on its space program.

Meanwhile, China is set to build its own space station. Constructionwill start in 2019, and it's expected to be done by 2022. That's two years ahead of thepossible retirementof the International Space Station.

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2 Nations Are Vying To Be The New Heavyweights Of Space ... - ABC2 News

Asian giants, China and India are currently locked in a serious competition to become the new heavyweights in space exploration, reports say.

Before now, the U.S. and Russia were longtime power players in space exploration, but two nations in Asia have made big strides to improve their programs.

India recently sent 31 satellites from 15 different countries into orbit. And in early 2017, it sent 104 satellites into orbit at once the most ever for a single rocket. It surpassed the previous record of 37 set by Russia in 2014.

Read also: Hacking group, CyberTeam claims responsibility for Skype outage

China is set to send an unmanned probe to the moon to bring back the first soil samples in more than 40 years. By 2018, its expected to be the first country to soft-land a probe on the far side of the moon.

India and China are also two of six space agencies in the heavy-lift rocket club. China joined at the end of 2016, and in June, India successfully launched a satellite into orbit thats several tons and 13 stories tall.

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China, India vying to become new heavyweights in space exploration - Ripples Nigeria

Autonomous space robots are going to be key to making new discoveries and exploring the furthest reaches of our Solar System and beyond, according to NASA scientists.

By making their own exploration decisions, robotic spacecraft can conduct traditional science investigations more efficiently and even achieve otherwise impossible observations, Steve Chien and Kiri Wagstaff, AI researchers working at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, wrote in Science Robotics.

Autonomy will allow robots to respond and turn their attention to sudden, unexpected phenomena like the plumes sprouting from distant comets, instead of waiting around to execute the next command sent from Earth.

AI and machine learning has a long history at NASA. Its tough to pinpoint the exact time the technology was used, but Chien said the first time it cropped up onboard a spacecraft was 1999 with the Deep Space One (DS1) Remote Agent Experiment (RAX).

DS1 was a spacecraft that was used to perform a demo of the RAX to test how it could generate its own plans to achieve mission goals over a 48-hour flight.

More modern spacecraft orbiting Earth employ machine learning classifier algorithms to distinguish between snow, water and ice so they can detect more unusual weather events like volcanic activity, fires or floods. The same principle is also used on the Curiosity rover to capture whirling dust devils, kicked up by the Martian wind.

The idea of robots coming up with its own schedule is particularly interesting to Chien as it enables a higher level of autonomy and intelligence.

Understanding the competing objectives, and measurements you are trying to do, so that you can design software that can pack it all in, is quite a challenge. A lot of times it gets quite involved in the science - what you are trying to model, what you are trying to observe - whether it is a plume in the ocean, a the evolution of a volcanic eruption, or the geology behind how a particular site evolved, Chien told The Register.

All of the planning systems rely on modelling the spacecrafts current state and resources and use better search algorithms to decide on a schedule.

NASA is currently developing an automated scheduler for its Mars 2020 rover mission. But to go further, robots will have to be able to explore unknown environments for days, weeks or even months without human support.

There is an ongoing project exploring potential technologies for autonomous submarines to detect signs of life underwater. It is hoped that one day, such submersibles could be used to probe the oceans hidden beneath the icy exteriors on Europa, Enceladus or Pluto.

It is believed that these watery world may have hydrothermal vents that support life, like the extremophile microbes that live near similar vents in Earths oceans - a possible hotbed that could explain the origin of life.

NASA are also looking at newer areas of AI like deep learning. Its important to keep learning to achieve longer term goals, Chien said. But applying them is trickier since space missions are very expensive. We have few opportunities to launch [robots], so NASA does not want to take unnecessary risks, so most of the machine learning deployments are on the ground.

The ultimate challenge would be to visit Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to the Solar System - only 4.37 light years away. Last year, scientists announced that Proxima b, a possible rocky planet, was orbiting in the habitable zone around Alpha Centauri.

To traverse a distance of over 4 light years, an explorer to this system would likely endure a cruise of over 60 years. Upon arrival, the spacecraft would need to operate independently for years, even decades, exploring multiple planets in the system. Todays AI innovations are paving the way to make this kind of autonomy a reality, the paper said.

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NASA? More like NASAI: Brainy robots 'crucial' to space exploration ... - The Register